Kind of pointless one shot. The idea attacked me out of nowhere and so I wrote it down.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or it's characters.
Sasuke left Sakura on a cold bench with a whispered, "Thank you."
He had briefly thought about taking her with not because he cared for her in any way,(because he could not care, nevernevernever) but because he was frightened with the thought of being completely alone.
When Sakura had stood there declaring her love for him with tears running down her face, he knew she wasn't strong enough to survive in Sound.
She was too fragile, too innocent.
She hadn't been the one, who's entire family was slaughter mercilessly by someone she trusted with her entire being.
She hadn't been forced to watch as her older brother murdered them over and over and not having the ability to change it. Not even being able to close her eyes.
She wasn't alone, though she seemed to think she was, she had her mother and her father and Naruto and Kakashi. She had that flower shop girl and the boy who is constant yelling about her youthful beauty.
She would be protected even with him gone.
He was surprised by the fact he was angry at the thought of someone else taking care of her, but brushed it off as the fact that he had always been the one to protect her. But only because they were a team (There could never be any other reason, nevernevernever)
She would survive without him, though she didn't seem to think so. She was weak physically, but she would become strong mentally.
She would she would she would. It was a mantra he had to keep repeated, because even for the heartless leaving hurts.
Him leaving wouldn't destroy her. It wouldn't it wouldn't it wouldn't.
But still he had leaned down over her unconscious body and pressed his lips lightly against her's.
She tasted like the tears that still ran down her pale face, and disappeared into her hairline of her pinkpinkpink hair.
Her lips felt like silk against his rough chapped ones.
He fingered the jagged ends of her hair, anger filling him as he remember waking to her bruised and bleeding in the forest of death. (Because he was too weakweakweak to protect her.)
That man should have died that day, and it should have been painful.
But Sakura was always gentle and compassionate and so damn innocent.
She had stopped him from destroying the man even though he nearly killed her.
She would be angry when she awoke, not understanding why the boy she 'loved' left her alone on a bench.
She would never know he had stolen her first kiss.
But he would know, and he would remember.
And that was enough for him.
And with that he turned and walked from the village leaving without a second doubt.
He needed to defeat his brother, and for that he would give anything.
He found out the truth about the Uchiha clan after he killed his brother.
His completely innocent brother, who he had killed.
Itachi had killed the entire clan on the councils orders.
He hadn't wanted to do it, but he had little choice.
And he had spared Sasuke, even against the councils orders.
He had given up everything for his little brother, who he had loved more then life itself.
Madara had told him the truth for once in his life someone hadn't lied to him.
Sasuke had lived in a village that had ordered the death of his family.
"Your lying," He had whispered his voice hoarse and strained, "He was evil, he was insane. It was his fault."
"No, but you can avenge him." Madara helped him realize the truth.
The only problem was that the day he was supposed to destroy the village, Sakura found him first.
She was standing in front of them, blocking their way.
She looked as innocent as she had on the day he left her.
And she looked beautiful, though her pinkpinkpink hair was matted with blood that wasn't her own, and her pale skin was covered with dirt.
Her green eyes that were once young and naive were now wise and controlled.
Her face was a calm mask that he hadn't expected to see.
To anyone else it would appear as though seeing him didn't affect her at all, but he could always tell, he could always read her like a open book.
She was scared and desperate and concerned, but not for him.
She was worried about her friends who were probably losing their lives as she stood there waiting for him to make a move.
He had been hoping that he didn't have to see her, didn't have to fight her.
"Hello Sasuke," Her voice was shaking slightly and he could tell she regretted it the second it left her mouth, "It's been a while."
He was slightly shocked to not hear the -kun she used to add to his name, and though he would never say it out loud, he was also slightly disappointed.
"Sakura," His voice had grown deeper over the years.
When Karin rushed towards Sakura, probably angry that she knew him, he found himself stopping her, gripping the red haired girl's shoulder in an painful grip.
"Leave." He order pushing her away.
"But Sasuke-kun..." Karin quickly shut her mouth when she saw his blood red eyes, narrowed at her.
Sasuke always wore a cool mask of indifference, but now he looked ready to kill.
She let her eyes flicker to the girl she had never met before.
She wasn't gorgeous, though her bright hair and emerald colored eyes were quite exotic, she was pretty and cute.
She was small and petite, her head probably only reaching Sasuke collarbone.
She had thin and completely feminine curves that were barely visible under her baggy red shirt.
Karin turned and ran the other way, not stopping once or looking back.
"Naruto will stop Madara." Sakura completely confident in her closest friends abilities. "Then he'll stop you."
"You're both still weak." He took a step towards her, watching as she took a step back. "Pathetic and annoying."
He didn't tell her that the reason she was annoying was the fact that even though he couldn'tcouldn'tcouldn't care about her, his thoughts consisted of pink and green and cherry blossom trees.
When he completely let his guard down her would see what could have been, and sometimes, sometimes, he wanted it so bad he would stand outside the gates of Konoha and, though he was never caught, think about returning.
But he didn't, he couldn't.
"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" She growled losing a bit of her control, and he was allowed a brief glance at who she was. That same fire still burned in her brightbrightbright eyes.
"No you don't," His voice was low and quiet and deadly. "You love me."
"Not anymore, I haven't loved you since you left me on that bench." Her eyes were misting over with tears, Damn it, she couldn't let go of the tight reign on her emotions now.
Not in front of him of all people, he needed to know the truth about Madara, before he destroyed hundreds of lives.
"I know the truth about the clan." She said, her voice back to it's calm and composed tone.
"You know nothing!" He spat his eyes burning with hate that wasn't directed towards her, but towards the village she was protecting.
"I always wondered even though Itachi was a prodigy, how he killed the entire Uchiha clan." She ignored the way his eyes narrowed even further. "Suddenly Madara shows up, and it all makes perfect sense. At first it confused me, I searched through the permit records at the Hokage's office. When I found that after the Uchiha Massacre, did you know that's what they call it in records? Anyway they found a unknown source of chakra lingering on several of the bodies."
Sakura paused in her fast explaining to look at Sasuke who was listening closely to every word coming from her mouth.
"They had no idea who's it was until, seven months ago when they found it on a body of a anbu captain, who died from exposure to the Mangekyo Sharingan. At first they though it was yours or Itachi's, but I was the one doing the autopsy. I looked back at the Massacre and confirmed it wasn't Itachi's, and you have a counterclockwise type of chakra while this was clockwise. So I dove deeper into the records and found that they never found a body for Madara Uchiha."
"I don't understand." Sasuke was not getting the connection she was trying to make.
"Madara helped kill the Uchiha clan after they were going to turn on Konoha, but he didn't do it for noble reasons like Itachi did." She was nearly panting from talking so fast, but he still caught every word. "He did it because he was angry at them for 'betraying' him."
Sasuke's eyes darkened with the realization that he had been used, by the murderer of his clan.
"What do you get from telling me this?" He asked, taking a step closer to her.
"I was hoping I could change your mind about this. Naruto and you can kill Madara, but only together." Her green eyes showed desperation now. "Please, by destroying Konoha you would be killing hundreds of innocent civilians, that had nothing to do with anything.
"Naruto will be the next Hokage," She paused her voice fond as she talked about the blond shinobi, "and he will throw the members of the council that had anything to do with the Massacre in jail. Not everyone in Konoha is at fault."
"Lead me to him," Sasuke's monotone voice had never sounded better to Sakura.
Sasuke felt slightly smug as he watched a beautiful smile appear on Sakura's face.
She looked extremely happy as she took a step forward and lightly pulled Sasuke's elbow, and led him towards Konoha.
He would have pulled from her grip, but the way her eyes lit up as she got closer to her village distracted him.
She led him towards Hokage tower killing and incapacitating enemy shinobi as she made her way there.
Sakura was right she had gotten stronger. She was easily killing any ninja that came her way. A kunai lodged itself in her shoulder as she blocked a hit from another shinobi.
The man who threw it was quickly killed by Sasuke, who disliked the fact he wasn't able to stop the hit, aimed for Sakura.
She didn't stop to heal herself though the bleeding was pretty bad and the pain was worse.
"Heal yourself." Sasuke stated, his eyes blank.
"No time," Sakura sped up.
Finally they were both running up the stairway to the roof and bursting through to see Naruto yelling at Madara, as he smirked and watched his ninja destroy Konoha.
"Naruto!" Sakura shouted waving her hand in the air.
"Sakura," Sasuke said, pressing his fingers to her pressure point on the back of her neck. "Thank you."
Before her limp body hit the ground her caught her, and gently laid her down. He brushed her several messy strands of hair out of her face.
"Bastard!" Naruto ran over to them, "What did you do to Sakura!"
"This isn't her fight." Sasuke turned to Madara who was looking at them blankly. "It's mine."
"It's not just yours!" Naruto's eyes were almost glowing red. "It's mine too! He tried to destroy Kohona and tried to kill me! You're not getting rid of me!"
There was a moment where him and Naruto just stared at each other.
He seemed to have grown quite a bit since they last saw each other. His features had matured as well, but his eyes still had that same determined look, and Sasuke knew he wasn't going to be able to knock him out like he did Sakura.
Sasuke nodded curtly and turned back towards Madara.
"So the little pink kunoichi told on me?" Madara laughed loudly. "I knew I should have killed her when I had the chance."
"You won't touch her!" Naruto shouted, his face feral. He looked about ready to rip him apart.
"Oh?" Madara chuckled, "I would expected Sasuke-kun to say that. What with his unhealthy obsession with her."
Sasuke looked at him as shocked as Naruto was.
"What you think I didn't notice?" He leaned back his head and laughed. "You always got this softer look in your eyes whenever you saw a cherry tree. I knew there was a girl, but I wasn't sure who until I saw little Sakura-chan over there. It's pathetic."
He suddenly disappeared and reappeared by the unconscious girl. He leaned down and gently stroked her face.
"Pretty little thing isn't she?" He lifted her limp body into his arms and held her close. "And the Uchiha genes are so powerful the pink hair wouldn't even pass on to the children."
"SHUT UP!" Sasuke roared racing towards them only to stop dead as Madara brushed his thumb against her jugular in a subtle threat.
"Now now, Let's not get possessive." Madara moved his thumb down her throat slightly his fingers brushed her collarbone. "I'm sure you wouldn't mind sharing your little cherry blossom."
"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Naruto was quickly losing control over the Fox Demon.
Madara ignored his little outburst and reached inside Sakura's pouch, and removed an old picture.
"Sentimental little girl isn't she?" He held out her picture of team seven. "Huh, even after you betrayed them she stayed loyal. Foolish little child."
The picture in his hands burst into flames, and fell to the grounds in ashes.
"All children must grow up sometime." His large hand gripped her pink skirt and ripped, tearing it from her body.
She was now left in a pair of black shorts and her red shirt. His hand curled around her upper thigh and squeezed.
Suddenly Sasuke disappeared, reappearing behind Madara and shoving a kunai through his shoulder.
Sakura slipped from Madara's arms and Sasuke caught and reappeared beside Naruto.
"Your going to die." Sasuke stated activating his Sharingan. He held Sakura as close to his body as possible.
Sakura was in a pure white room when she woke up.
Sasuke sitting in the chair beside her bed covered in cuts and bruises, while Naruto sat on the empty bed beside her, his eyes closed.
Sakura's shoulder was wrapped where the kunai had previously been.
"Sakura you are alright." It wasn't a question, Sasuke would never ask if she was okay.
"Yes, I think." She tried to sit up only to be forced back down by Sasuke, "My head hurts a little."
She brought a glowing hand up to her forehead. Then she seemed to remember what happened that day.
"Madara!" She gasped throwing her legs over the edge of her bed and trying to stand.
"Me and Sasuke-teme took care of him!" Naruto yelled sitting up from his spot on the bed.
"You knocked me out again!" Sakura yelled glaring at Sasuke. "Seriously?"
"I apologize for that." Sakura and Naruto's jaws dropped, leaving them gaping like a couple of idiots. "I just didn't want to involve you in a fight that wasn't yours."
Sakura would have continued had the door not been thrown open.
"Sakura! Naruto!" It was Tsunade who looked rather beat up from her fight with Pein and Konan. "Uchiha?"
"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune called hurrying in the room after her with Tonton in her arms. "You need to be healed!"
"I'm not that old and all have is a couple scraps," Tsunade waved her off before turning to look at Sasuke and Sakura. "Now Uchiha why are you back?"
"I would like to rejoin Konoha as a shinobi." He stated, rubbing his temples with his index fingers.
"Why should I allow that?" Tsunade was not in a good mood, after fighting for hours with impossibly strong shinobi. "You betrayed this village and left to train in an enemy village."
"Who's leader I killed. I also with the help of Naruto killed Madara." Sakura reached out and gripped his hand, much to the shock of everyone in the room.
"I do believe Sasuke should be granted lenience after removing two major threats to the village. His actions saved hundreds of lives, civilians and ninjas." Sakura gave Sasuke a small smile.
"I'll have to talk to the council," Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "And they will decide the punishment for him. But I will take execution and time in Konoha prison off the board."
"Yay!" Sakura said, her hand tightening around Sasuke's as a bright smile broke free.
"I'm sensing a but," Sasuke's eyes never left Sakura.
"But, it will probably be years before you are aloud to do missions for Konoha." Sakura's smile only faded slightly. "And it might take even longer before the citizens trust you again."
"That's fine!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Yeah, as long as we can reinstate Team 7!" Naruto loudly announced.
"Where's Kakashi anyway?" Sakura questioned.
"He's probably in the hospital somewhere." Shizune answered this time.
"Now Sasuke you should let me take a look at you injuries," She smiled sweetly. "You too Naruto."
"Sakura?" Her eyes flicked to Sasuke.
"Yes?"
"Thank you." Only this time she didn't black out and his answer was a light kiss on the forehead, as she tended to his cuts and bruises.
And although he wasn't sure everything would return to the way it started out as. Sasuke was sure he still has his friends.
And he had Sakura back, maybe his hopes weren't too far off after all?
Only time would tell.
So anyway review, please.
Also just saying I know most of the plot it wrong with the whole invasion. Normally I pride myself on trying my hardest to perfect the plot and everything, but it's Fanfiction so don't say ohhh, that didn't happen that way.
I know it didn't, if it did the ending would have been extremely depressing. And I really wished that Sasuke and Sakura were together.